STATE GOP STRUGGLES TO EMERGE FROM MORASS

Sacramento 
California’s Republican Party has been struggling to answer two critical questions as it seeks relevance in a state where Democrats control every constitutional office and supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature.

The state GOP emerged from its convention in Anaheim over the weekend with a positive answer to the first question: Can it keep the lights on, the bills paid and the party apparatus functioning?

Under party Chairman Jim Brulte, the former senator from Rancho Cucamonga, the party closed a $1 million deficit and rebuilt its grassroots effort sufficiently to secure victory in a July Senate election in the San Joaquin Valley. Now the GOP appears strong enough to pick up an occasional, hotly contested legislative seat.

With the basic, organizational issues fixed, the party can focus on the second question: What issues should it embrace to woo support from California voters?

Here’s where the GOP struggles. Its electoral failures are legion. Its voter-registration numbers have dropped below 30 percent. The party barely registers among young voters and fails to attract minority voters in a state where minorities are a growing portion of the electorate.

The Anaheim convention featured the usual outreach programs for minority voters. Even Republicans know that such tokenism isn’t going to take it very far.

Meanwhile, former Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado — a moderate running for governor who is disliked by GOP conservatives since his tax-hiking vote during the Schwarzenegger era — was a dominant presence. His role emphasized the same-old tension, between those who say the party should keep moderating its positions, and those who say it should stay true to “principle.”

Either choice is problematic. People become active in politics because they want to implement policies that conform to their worldview. Echoing Democratic positions won’t satisfy Republicans who want to move the state in a conservative direction. And it’s going to take more than marketing to boost conservatism in our left-leaning state.

Political consultant Grant Gillham, who has worked for Republican legislators, argues that the party should embrace a third option — assembling a new bundle of issues that stays true to its vision of limited government, but offers hope for reaching voters who now shun the GOP. This approach travels well-trod political ground.

He mentions Jack Kemp, the late Republican congressman from New York whose opportunity-oriented conservatism gained traction among African-Americans who didn’t often vote Republican. Kemp was no moderate. He believed that freer markets, competition and limited government would best help poor people and minorities.

Kemp convinced people that he truly cared about their communities, and he promoted policies that were designed to create jobs and improve education for poor and working-class people. Kemp championed the “supply side” ideas crafted by Reagan administration economist Arthur Laffer, who spoke at the Anaheim convention.

“It’s only economics, all the rest falls into place,” Laffer told me in an interview Monday. “I don’t understand the concept of equal rights in a soup kitchen.” His point — the state needs pro-growth tax policies that raise everyone’s economic situation, rather than endless arguments over rights and social issues. “California’s tax code,” he added, “is almost designed to minimize output.”